Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Life is so amazing. I know I was amazed at the creation of my children and their birth and even how they grow and develop each day. The youngest received a butterfly environment for her 7th birthday and to be honest with you I thought it was going to be a BIG fail in our house. WOW was I wrong. We got 5 caterpillars in the mail in a steamy cup full of this cornmeal looking goop. In about 5 days this spiny and CHUBBY caterpillars climbed up to the roof of the cup and began to form a shell. It was absolutely amazing to see this happening right on the kitchen counter.
About seven days later they were hard and iridescent so we transferred the paper they had adhered to in to the "environment". They were pinned to the wall literally with a pin. Seven more days and we had butterflies hatching!!! They dried their wings and sucked sugar water off of napkin balls we made for them. Then they were all named and released to Earth at two days old. We released about 2 a day until all 5 were on their path to a new life. So eye opening to be a part of such a transition.

Week forty-one Caterpillar to Butterfly

2 comments:

I LOVE this post!! Are those Painted Ladies? It is always AMAZING to witness such funky looking creatures transforming into beautiful works of art. I started my first butterfly garden when I was around 10 years old. It became a hobby that I still enjoy today. At one point, I decided to move some potted nectar and larvae plants into our screened in lanai. I then caught some butterflies and rehomed some caterpillars from my outside garden to make my very own butterfly aviary. It was such an experience to go out every morning and find my new hatchlings. My geeky butterfly obsession helped me win MANY science fair projects. I did a study to see if butterflies preferred certain colors to feed from. Every year I continued the same project and ended with a 5 year study on their feeding habits. I can tell you they prefer bright colors :) Anyhoo, I just thought I would share my story as a possible idea for the girls. If you decide to plant a garden let me know. I still have the larvae and nectar plants memorized, lol. - Angie